Honor Killings 

(Ankara, Turkey) Last year, the Turkish government performed a major revision to its penal code to meet minimum standards required for the country to join the European Union. As an example, it's now mandated that murders committed to preserve a family's honor will result in an automatic life term in prison. Previously, honor killings were committed with lenient or no punishment imposed.

Sounds good but, unfortunately, there are 70 million Muslims in the country who have accepted honor killings as a traditional and historic fact of life. In my estimation, it will take a generation or two at least to see any substantive departure from the infamous practice.

However, one troubling fact about the new legislation is that it contains a provision for mitigating the life sentences for honor killings if the perpetrator is provoked. Turkish courts have used this provision in the new law to reduce sentences.

In one case, a brother who gruesomely murdered his sister for becoming pregnant out of wedlock had his life sentence reduced to 20 years "on the grounds of his good behavior in court and also the fact that his action had been heavily provoked." Other than to "cleanse" the family's honor, it's not clear what "heavily provoked" means. It appears to be entirely subjective and controversial, to say the least.

As a consequence, the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals was asked to weigh in on the subject.

From Turkish Daily News:

The Supreme Court of Appeals' First Criminal Bureau decided on Friday that individuals found guilty of an "honor" killing could not benefit from a reduction in sentence due to provocation, arguing that the committing of such a crime resulted not from provocation but from a desire to ensure the survival of a bad tradition.

"Bad tradition" is an understatement. I'd call it barbaric. Nevertheless, at least some top-down pressure from an authoritative body is being placed on the citizens of Turkey to change their thinking.